He smiled quietly.
"It is right that he should be," he said, "since he taught you all the good things you know; and was, like myself, white." This proof of the great knowledge possessed by the being before him vastly impressed the Mexican.

How could this strange being know the Mexican tongue, and be acquainted with its gods, unless he were one of them?
It had pleased him to assume ignorance of other matters, but doubtless he was well aware of everything that had passed in the country since he left it.

Henceforth the respect which he and his companions paid to Roger was redoubled.
As soon as they had reached the borders of Mexico, a swift runner had been dispatched to the nearest post with a message, to be sent forward to the King of Tezcuco, with the tidings of the arrival of a strange white being in the land; and asking for instructions as to what was to be done with him.

In the meantime, the merchants told Roger that they wished him to abstain from going out into the various villages and towns at which they stopped.
"Until we know what are the king's wishes concerning you, it were better that you were not seen.

In the first place, all this country by the coast is under the Aztec rule, and as soon as you were seen, messages would be sent forward to Mexico, and the Emperor might desire that so great a wonder should be sent direct to him; whereas, if our own King sends first for you, you would be his property as it were, and even Montezuma would not interfere.
"It will not be long before an answer arrives, for along all the roads there are post houses, two leagues apart from each other.